2022 has been a year of great innovation with a ton of new marketing strategies and platforms that are vital for PR + Influencer Marketing industries alike. From the introduction of virtual worlds all the way to new social platforms, these new developments can hold the key to business growth and targeted marketing results. To help all of us keep up, we're sharing the top 2022 buzzword innovations that you need to know below:
NFTs
Ahhh, the NFT, which also stands for non-fungible token. “Non-fungible” means that it’s unique and can’t be replaced with something else. For example, a bitcoin is fungible — trade one for another bitcoin, and you’ll have exactly the same thing. A one-of-a-kind trading card, however, is non-fungible. If you traded it for a different card, you’d have something completely different.
At a very high level, most NFTs are part of the Ethereum blockchain, though other blockchains have implemented their own version of NFTs. Ethereum is a cryptocurrency, like bitcoin or dogecoin, but its blockchain also keeps track of who’s holding and trading NFTs.
NFTs can really be anything digital (such as drawings, music, your brain downloaded and turned into an AI), but a lot of the current excitement is around using the tech to sell digital art. Since NFTs exploded in popularity, pictures of apes have sold for tens of millions of dollars, there’s been an endless supply of headlines about million-dollar hacks of NFT projects, and corporate cash grabs have only exploded.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Artificial intelligence, also known as AI, describes the intelligent behavior of machines with a human-like ability to make decisions, perform actions and improve by learning from experience. It automates tasks and improves efficiency and productivity. Many companies launching AI tools that focus on day-to-day business challenges, there will soon be AI solutions for many of the problems you may encounter while running a business. Starbucks uses AI-powered predictive analytics to serve customers with food and drink suggestions, special offers, personalized messages based on location and weather, purchase history and choices other customers with similar preferences have made. The AI-generated suggestions helped Starbucks increase average order value and sales.
Metaverse
This is a big one that we were puzzled over until we dug into research, too. Here's the trick: mentally replace the phrase “the metaverse” in a sentence with “cyberspace.” The term doesn't really refer to any one specific type of technology, but rather a broad shift in how we interact with technology.
The technologies companies refer to when they talk about the metaverse can include virtual reality—characterized by persistent virtual worlds that continue to exist even when you're not playing—as well as augmented reality that combines aspects of the digital and physical worlds. However, it doesn't require that those spaces be exclusively accessed via VR or AR. Virtual worlds—such as aspects of Fortnite that can be accessed through PCs, game consoles, and even phones—have started referring to themselves as the metaverse.
Many companies that have hopped on board the metaverse bandwagon also envision some sort of new digital economy, where users can create, buy, and sell goods.
Virtual Influencers
While robots don't walk our streets (yet!) social media is one place where Human 2 Robot, also known as H2R, interaction is evolving at a rapid pace. Millions of people around the world are taking to Instagram to follow and engage with a new wave of online personalities: virtual influencers.
Virtual influencers are fictional computer generated ‘people’ who have the realistic characteristics, features and personalities of humans. They're becoming a huge proponent in the influencer marketing industry, with more of them emerging on Instagram every week and more brands queuing up to get involved with this futuristic means of marketing.
Behind each of them are clever creators - brands and individuals with a keen eye for technology - who remain faceless. They are the ones responsible for growing their Instagram platforms and molding these virtual figures into the internationally recognized influencers. Just like 'human influencers', brands that choose to collaborate with these virtual faces will be opened up to huge audiences and a whole range of benefits.
Web3
Web3 has become a catch-all term for the vision of a new, better internet. At its core, Web3 uses blockchains, cryptocurrencies, and NFTs to give power back to the users in the form of ownership. A tweet said it best: Web1 was read-only, Web2 is read-write, Web3 will be read-write-own.
Web3 is a young and evolving ecosystem that was coined by Gavin Wood in 2014, but many of these ideas have only recently become a reality. In the last year alone, there has been a considerable surge in the interest in cryptocurrency, improvements to layer 2 scaling solutions, massive experiments with new forms of governance, and revolutions in digital identity.
We are only at the beginning of creating Web3, but as the infrastructure that will continue to support it is growing by leaps and bounds.
App Fatigue
This term refers to the growing dissatisfaction expressed by customers towards single-service apps that are mainly mobile, but could extend to all online platforms. With too many apps that are serve similar functions and are all greedily competing for your attention, more users are just hitting "delete."
Are there other terms that you think we've left out? Let us know in the comments below!